friends, a concert, and New Years.

this New Years was interesting, unexpected, and wonderful. six weeks ago Derek and i were thrilled that this New Years Eve we would get to decide what to do?! you see, the past 3 years on New Years Eve either Derek or myself have had a gig....and yes, we love gigs, but yes, we were excited to have this year without one. well, what happened was this....this great church in Nampa called Christian Faith Center called The Waiting Kind a few weeks ago and asked if they would do a New Years Eve show - and the boys agreed. at first i was a little bummed because of above explanation, however, i quickly changed my attitude and decided this would be thee best New Years Eve yet! and it was truly fantastic. this is what the night consisted of:

--set up
--sound check
--Olive Garden - with the rest of the Treasure Valley
--another sound check
--drinking tea and waiting for the show
--show from 10:50-11:35 - amazing time of worship
--ringing in the New Year with a bunch of teens and some of my favorite people in this entire world
--clean up, tear down (a.k.a. for me: running the merch table) ha.

all in all, it was an incredible night. thank you SO much for all of our dear friends who came! what a great support you all are. and a huge cheers to the Lubiens for coming - we love you so very much. i cannot wait to see what 2010 holds!!!! HAPPY NEW YEARS DEAR ONES!

decorating the Henbest place with Christmas cheer.

H is a good letter. from Anthropologie...given by dear Jo Jo.


Christmas merriment in mug form. frame from Urban Outfitters.
feather ornament made by dear Jo Jo...oh how you contribute to our house Jo! i love teapots.
canvas with vintage fabric squares and buttons also made by Jolleen...sheesh! love my Christmas plates...
just added a simple snowflake to add a little festive.ness (is that a word?). ha.
Rudolph and Clarice for life!
topped the tree with a pretty little bluebird from my wedding decor.
white tree. teal, blue, and silver ornaments, blue mirror.
we have decided to keep our decor up for a few more weeks...we just can't take Christmas down yet ok! hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

top ten albums of 2009...

firstly, Happy almost Christmas! i wrote a blog at the end of last year about what my top ten albums of the year were...so i thought i would continue the tradition. this year was a good year for good tunes. honestly, i could probably make a top 25 list, but i'll leave it at ten...

1. David Bazan - Curse Your Branches
2. The Civil Wars - Poison & Wine ep
3. Wilco - Wilco
4. Norah Jones - The Fall
5. A Fine Frenzy - Bomb in a Birdcage
6. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7. Fanfarlo - Reservoir
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs! - It's Blitz!
9. Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
10. Brandi Carlile - Give Up the Ghost

--with special mentions to NeedtoBreathe, The Foo Fighters, Anna Gilbert, Andrew Bird, and M. Ward. phew.

my week in pictures.

trying to stay warm in this crazy 2 degree weather.

drinking lots and lots and lots of hot tea.

teaching piano to my wonderful students.

getting ready for my kids Christmas program - "The World Says Merry Christmas."

listening to one of my favorite Christmas albums of all time.

wrapping presents in my Rudolph and Clarice wrapping paper.

darling weekends.

a dear friend said this to me today: rest your soul this weekend, i mean it. and now i pass on that wish to you.

Brighten.

some of the lyrics to one of my new songs, Brighten.

i could write a song and have to think about
a love that passed me by and on the way
i could write for miles and miles and miles on air
and the message would remain the same

(but) you have stolen the pages, my dear
you've stolen the pages

you brighten my day
everything fades when you're around me
we, have all our lives
to spend the time and then
we'll start all over again

an incredible reunion.

i have this cousin, Grant Weatherford, who i am extremely proud of. i mean, i'm proud of all of my cousins but i'm proud of Grant in a different way. Grant graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 2007. he is a genius really. he is married to an incredible woman named Jillian. she amazes me. Grant enlisted in the army after graduation and has been in Baghdad for the past 11 months. he had the priviledge of coming home for a few weeks when his precious baby girl was born, Maebry Elaine. all this to say, i am just so proud of these two incredible people. they are pure examples of love in it's finest form.

Grant came home from Baghdad last week. here is the sweetest reunion picture i have ever seen. I LOVE YOU GRANT, JILLIAN, AND MAEBRY!!!!!